EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/12/2024 8:45 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “Because of What the World Does”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:16
Message of the
verse: “For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
I want to continue looking at this
verse with the help of the commentary by John MacArthur. I have to say that as I am writing this I
understand it very well as I know that the world will also entice sinners to
thoughts and actions contrary to God’s will, and it will do it through the lust
of the eyes. Eyes are a gift from the
Lord as seen in (Prov. 20:12; Eccl. 11:7) that enable people to see the
beautiful creation and the excellent works of the Lord (cf. Pss. 8:3-4; 19:1;
33:5; 104:24; Isa. 40:26; Rom. 1:20).
There can be a problem however, as they let in light, so they are also
open windows for temptations to enter; and thus sin perverts the use of the
eyes (cf. Prov. 27:20; Ecc. 1:8; 4:8) and then will plunge people into dissatisfaction,
covetousness, and idolatry. Now for a
moment think about Lot’s wife as she misused her eyes, and God killed her as a
result of that. Another was Achan who
plundered the forbidden goods he say, which also led to his death. Here is another example which comes from King
David as he was in a place where he should not have been, for in the spring of
the year when kings go off to war David stayed home and from his rooftop he saw
a beautiful woman bathing, which was how they did things at that time,
subsequently committed adultery with her, and paid severely for his sin the
remainder of his life, as a part of that sin was him ordering the killing of
Bathsheba’s husband so he could marry her.
MacArthur adds ”Because of such potential consequences, it is imperative
for believers to guard their eyes (cf. Job 31:1),” and I will quote this verse
at this time “"I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze
at a virgin?” Back to MacArthur’s quote “Jesus’
graphic hyperbole underscores the necessity of avoiding the lust of the eyes.
“27 "You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT
COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with
lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 “If your
right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is
better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body
to be thrown into hell.”
Continuing with MacArthur’s quote we will look now
at “The third human element that provides an avenue into the soul for
temptation (which) is the boastful pride of life. Such pride is the arrogance (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3; 17:4-10,
41-45; Pss. 10:3; 75:4; Prov. 25:14; Jer. 9:23; Rom. 1:30; James 3:5; 4:16)
that arguably motivates all other sin, including the lust of the flies and
eyes, as it seeks to elevate self above everyone else (cf. Ps 10:2, 4; Prov.
26:12; Dan. 5:20; Luke 18:11-12; Rom. 12:3, 16). Pride is the corruption of the noblest parts
of man’s essence (cf. Ps. 10:2-6, 11; Prov. 16:18-19), his rationally and
spirit that were created for him by
God (Gen. 1:26-27). Instead of accepting
that reality with appropriate humility and gratitude to God, sinners exalt
themselves and seek fulfillment in things that glorify the creature rather than
the Creator (Rom. 1:22-25).” Again I wish to quote these verses that go along
with what MacArthur wrote: “22 Professing
to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible
God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed
animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
In
the next SD on these verses I will be quoting a large amount of Scripture right
after I have some things to say about the sins we have been discussing.
11/12/2024 9:12 PM
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